only an excerpt. it said mr. speaker, i rise with my colleagues to honor, celebrate and remember ambassador john christopher chris stevens. a son of northern california and the bay area, ambassador stevens tragically lost his life in the greatest service to his country. selflessly and courageously representing american values in a foreign nation he knew intimately and cared for deeply. in his diplomatic capacity, ambassador stevens brought a profound and prolific knowledge of arab world and middle east to his assignment. his exemplary gift for making personal connections was invaluable as his role as specific representative

and ambassador to one of the most complex and challenging regions of the world. therefore as we join in recognizing ambassador stevens am myself midst a sober outpouring of praise from his family, colleagues, fellow americans and the leaders of this nation, we remember also that chris stevens was beloved by many libyans as well. therefore on behalf of the residents of northern california and our entire state, we join president barack obama, secretary of state hillary rodham clinton, democratic leader nancy pelosi and expensive network of people in saluting ambassador chris stevens who will be remembered for his strong sense of dignity, his humility and his generous

service to others. he will be truly missed by all who loved him and by all he served throughout the magnitude of his life's work. thank you for this honor. [applause] members of christopher stevens family, ladies and gentlemen, let me first thank chris stevens' brothers and sisters for their warm and delightful insights into what he was really like. thank you so much. that was fantastic what you did for us.

christopher stevens was obviously an extraordinary human being and contributor. every year at stanford we have a group of what we call national security fellows come. they were roughly army, navy, air force, state department. a couple weeks ago we had a meeting and the first person i called on was an army colonel. i said where were you last? he said in libya. i said did you know christopher stevens? he said everybody knew christopher stevens. he was our leader, fluent in arabic, constructive, positive, doing something, he was our leader. this spontaneous practically eruption from him. he was a foreign service officer.

anybody who has served with a foreign service as i did as the secretary of state knows, what a very special group of people this is. they are very able people. dedicated. they work hard for our country. chris was extraordinary and stood out. i thought what image can i think of that might express our way of thinking about him. i thought of the great seal of our republic. i don't know how many of you have ever looked carefully at it. the center is an eagle. in one talon the eagle is holding an olive branch.

the eagle is looking at the olive branch to show that the united states will always seek peace. the other talon, the eagle is holding arrows to show that the united states understands if you will be effective and successful in seeking peace, you must be strong. let me expand. because it only only peace but a better kind. the elimination of poverty, better lives all over the world for ourselves and other people. the arrows don't just stand for military strength but capability, they stand for the idea that the underwill try to recruit the best and most capable to apply

themselves to those grand objectives. as i studied the life of christopher stevens, he embodied that and sought the grand objectives that our dwok si stands for. we gather to mourn his loss and demonstrate to his family how much we understand their grief. we also gather to celebrate the immense accomplishments this man has made for us. i picked out of my closet a tie. says on it democracy is not

a spectator sport. christopher stevens was a participant. a full, strong, effective participant in his beloved democracy. chris, thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon, my name is tom pickering. chris stevens was a friend and a colleague. more than that he was among the very best our foreign service has to offer in support of our people and our country. a man destined for even

greater challenges and successes. it is a special honor for me to be asked to be here and say a few words in his memory. i must begin by offer approximating my sincere condolences and passion to his family and friends gathered here this afternoon to honor his memory. in truth, what we say here our words, can only be a pale shadow for his service and sacrifice for his nation and people. indeed that of his colleagues, glen dougherty, sean smith, tyrone woods. i know you all join me in honoring and appreciating their service and devotion as well. chris and i worked together for a time almost a dozen years ago. he was even then fully committed to his work. an authority already in the middle east.

a fine student of arabic. much more. he gave me careful and cogent advice and council as we wrestled together with the many growing problems that even back then were en endemic to the country's work. i learned about benghazi, as the critical changes in libya began to unfold. his leadership there at a time of great importance and danger was a tribute to his courage and bravery. his skill and dedication as a diplomat. to his commitment to a new and better libya. benghazi in a real sense, as you have heard today, became his city. as it is with a deep sense of fate that in benghazi he

and his colleagues gave that last full measure for his country and his many friends in the city where he died, continuing to defend and prosper their hopes and their aspirations for the future. many have commented since on chris's salient commitment to the people of benghazi. john thorn writing in the christian science monitor noted that when he passed in the street, the young men would call out, hello, chris. they knew his face. would laugh and say hello always. this is the right way to deal with our people, he said. libyan friends said he was always ready to put his country first. he shone by being himself, interested in the lives of

ordinary people. his death was met with shock and sadness in libya. feelings with regard to americans that are rare in that part of the world these days. for me that judgment captures key characteristics of chris and his approach to life and work. secretary of state hillary clinton noted chris's swearing in as ambassador to libya on an earlier tour, he was visiting roman ruins at one of the tourist sites in libya. he was trailed by gadhafi security men who were obviously intimidating to other tourists. as she recounted it, he reached over to one of the men, stole his camera out of his hands and started taking pictures of the men who had been following him. they were so dumbfounded that they had to laugh. after a quick conversation, chris convinced them to

stand down. from a colleague at the embassy in tripoli i learned chris had a humble style of diplomacy libyans responded to after he became ambassador and returned to tripoli, the embassy posted a photo, ordering a juice in a cafe. that went viral because libyans were amazed at the site of a senior government official doing mundane activities without a huge entourage and demanding vip treatment. chris had a great knowledge of libyan history and culture. he would often crack jokes with government counter parts. not just in arabic but in the libyan dialect, which the libyans loved to hear him speak. another told me when i saw him in may as newly appointed ambassador in tripoli he had not changed, despite the promotion and

accolades. he was the same guy. lingering one night after dinner to help me with a difficult table, i referred to him as sir or ambassador. he looked at me for a second, he sighs and he said i wish everyone would just call me chris. he loved the work, loved the people, but he never took himself too seriously. people talk about what a good diplomat he was. he knew how to motivate others to be the same. even those down on their careers, lost faith, in hardship. this was a tough task to inspire other to serve with dignity and self-respect. chris knew how to do that. nothing we can say here can make up for the heart ache and pain which brings less

to his family. we hope family members will draw solace and strength in our coming together around his life and service in a joyful way that shows how deeply we miss chris. i still have chris last message on my e-mail. he wrote hello, tom. it is exciting times in tripoli. with election and new congress coming together. as i read libya's recent history it is a bit like we are reliving the post world war ii years. how right he was. that was chris. always thinking, always sharp, always ready. public service is too often looked down upon by some in this country. often my colleagues in the foreign service la meant they don't make them the way they used to anymore.

today we remember a man, chris stevens, whose life and service just proves how wrong my colleagues really are. chris shows us they still make them the way they used to, only an awful lot better, thank you. [applause] >> chris's family would like to invite everyone to a reception after the ceremony. it will be held over there. you are all welcome. let us pray. oh lord, support us all the day long until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes and the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over and our work is done.

then in your mercy grant us a safe lodging and a holy rest and peace at the last. may the author of all life bless us and keep us. in god's name we pray, amen. ♪

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>> bonnie banks. bonnie banks. my definition of noise is uncontrolled music. without format. pretty simple affair. pancakes, and you're -- people get up on sundays around noon, weekends or whatever.

should not be too hard to walk into place. have your audio alarm clock go off for two hours waking your up while you are eating breakfast with many interesting visuals once in a while. improvisation. listening or not to the person you're playing up against or people or machines. trying to get as many different people in as possible. different genres, experimental noise, electronics, dissonance some drums.a tiny bit of ambient -- the first noise pancake shows, 1999, the first waffle noise, 2001.

god-waffle noise, noise pancake came out of cubist art, place on mission street, brutallo, where the church -- opened up his house and saturday morning cartoons. a big space. you can have everybody set up and barely move equipment around; small room for an audience to move around, walkover and get pancakes without getting burned up in the kitchen. there's like people in their hard-core gabber; people into really fast death metal; black metal.

people who don't listen to music at all. guy like larnie bock (sounds like) set up huge, motor driven harp. i don't know how to explain it. 40 foot of motors that he had running over strings and wires. and then played each string individually with the mixer. there is a feeling of euphoria when somebody's really good at what they do. experiencing a buffer, pushing your bowels out your rear. different.

a lot of noise. you don't play clubs with a cleaning schedule, a guy coming in the morning emptying the beer bottles. you play the warehouse. if you travel around you will see the exact same kind of weirdos doing their own thing. it is like in the bay area it's even more absurd. there seems to be more people that in a place like new york or tokyo. we did a show in new york, i didn't think that anyone was at hardly, and people come up and said i saw the show. i wish they had some kind of breakfast noise going on over there. i think a lot of people were being, walking out of the shows.

that was incredible. i can't believe it's over already, after two hours. if you are reluctant to enjoy something like this it will probably take a mass of peers to sell you on it. it's fine if you stay away. most of the people that come to the shows are pretty happy to be here. you may not be one of them. which is fine. (music) >> herb theatre,open rehearsal. listen to the rehearsal.

i think it is fun for them, they see our work process, our discussions, the decisions we make. it is good for us. we kind of behavior little bit when we have people in the audience. msk (music) >> we are rehearsing for our most expensive tour; plus two concerts here. we are proud that the growth of the orchestra, and how it is expanded and it is being accepted. my ambition when i came on as music director here -- it was evident we needed absolutely excellent work. also evident to me that i thought everyone should know that. this was my purpose. and after we opened,

which was a spectacular opening concert about five weeks after that the economy completely crashed. my plan -- and i'm absolutely dogmatic about my plans --were delayed slightly. i would say that in this very difficult timefor the arts and everyone, especially the arts, it's phenomenal how new century has grown where many unfortunate organizations have stopped. during this period we got ourselves on national radio presence; we started touring, releasing cds, a dvd. we continue to tour. reputation grows and grows and grows and it has never stopped going forward. msk(music)

>> the bay area knows the orchestra. you maybe take things for granted a little bit. that is simply not the case will go on the road. the audiences go crazy. they don't see vitality like this on stage. we are capable of conveying joy when we play. msk(music) >> any performance that we do, that a program, that will be something on the program that you haven't heard before. string orchestra repertoire is pretty small. i used to be boxed into small repertoire. i kept constantly looking for new repertoire and commissioning new arrangements. if you look at the first of the program you have very early,

young vibrant mendelson; fabulous opener and then you have this fabulous concerto written for us in the orchestra. is our gift. msk(music) >> and then you have strauss, extraordinary piece. the most challenging of all. string orchestra work. 23 solo instrument, no violin section, now viola section; everybody is responsible for their part in this piece. the challenge is something that i felt not only that we could do , absolutely could do,

but i wanted to show off. i can't tell you how aware i am of the audience. not only what i hear but their vibes, so strong. i have been doing this for a long time. i kind of make them feel what i want them to feel. there is nobody in that audience or anywhere that is not going to know that particular song by the fourth note. and that is our encore on tour. by the way. i am proud to play it, we are from san francisco. we are going to play that piece

no matter where we are.